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Category: Local Business Sponsors-Grant County NM Local Business Sponsors-Grant County NM
Published: 31 August 2015 31 August 2015

Sponsored Content Written by Mary Alice Murphy

Looking for a private place to get away from it all (or almost all)? Looking for a location off the beaten path where the sounds may be from the rain or wind? Looking for a place to sit under a tree and read a good book or just gaze off into the seemingly forever distance?

Think you want to go for lots of hikes, but then you find yourself just decompressing and doing nothing?

According to owners of Georgetown Cabins, Jon and Susie Eickhoff, after people take a trip down the gravel road, several miles from Mimbres and more miles from New Mexico 152, to find six cabins in the woods overlooking the former townsite of Georgetown, they mostly just do nothing. Five of the cabins are for rent and the owners live in the sixth.

"We accept singles or couples, but no pets and no kids," Susie said. "Each cabin has its own private deck or patio, a firepit, a gas cookout grill, and inside, a comfortable 480 square feet in a 20-foot-by-24-foot cabin, with satellite TV, wireless Wi-Fi, and all the conveniences of home."

All amenities, such as cooking and heating, are provided by the solar arrays on the property, as the land is located three miles off the grid. A full kitchen, with refrigerator, stove, sink and an eating table require only that guests bring their own food. Four restaurants are available in Mimbres or lots more back in Silver City. But why leave seclusion and quiet when you can cook your own dinner right in your own cabin, whether you have decided to stay overnight, for the weekend or a week or more?

A queen-sized bed is just off the small sitting room, and a spacious bathroom lies just off the bedroom. The open space provides intimacy or privacy. After all, you can always go sit outside on your private deck or porch.

Each cabin has its own theme and identity, with varying decoration schemes. The Lindauer Cabin is named after Sig Lindauer, who was a merchant in Georgetown and owned an entire block of the town.
Lindauer was known for helping residents out when they needed a loan or credit. His story is reflected in the Deming Museum, which has a furnished room named after him.

The Lottie Deno cabin is where the owners live. Lottie was a gambler, and reportedly the basis of Miss Kitty of "Gunsmoke" fame. She learned how to gamble by accompanying her father on his trips after the Civil War. Finally, her mother sent Lottie to Detroit, but there she met Cherokee Dan and they set up gambling spots in Deming and Silver City. Later she became Mrs. Dan Thurmond and became a pillar of the community, by succeeding in getting the Presbyterian Church built in Deming. There was a story that she got her name Lottie Deno, when someone said she should be named Lotta Dinero.

Willow Creek is a seasonal creek just below the property. It was the one source of water for the community of Georgetown. It dumps out by the Mimbres Store into the Mimbres River.

If you are at all interested in the history of Georgetown and the area, Jon is your storyteller. He knows the history, can answer your questions, or just get him going and he's off rattling off stories about C.P. Cramer who wanted to bring Georgetown back to its glory, but met his demise in Fierro.

The town was once the same size as Silver City, but when silver was devalued, the town shut down, and then a large fire destroyed many of the buildings. The third thing that happened was when a woman, who had a cream separator, put the cream out for anyone to dip the communal cup in to have a treat. Typhoid struck and wiped out a lot of children and families. Plus the railroad had chosen Silver City as its destination, thereby sealing the fate of Georgetown.

Georgetown had the first public school in the New Mexico Territory; it had a hospital building, but after the town ceased to exist, the old mining equipment was sold as scrap for World War II and in the 1960s, people scavenged the wood for their own building purposes. You can still see foundations and remnants of rock walls.

But scrambling around or taking hikes may be too much work, after you discover how relaxing it is just sitting and chatting or enjoying the pleasant weather at the 6,400-foot elevation.

Back to the cabins. One is named after Stanton Brannin. According to Jon, Granny Brannin was known for the best goat roast in town. Stanton married Guadalupe Villanueva, who couldn't read or write. They had a tow-headed boy, which the Apaches thought was a ghost or spirit. They never bothered the Brannins.

Ask Jon about the story of Santiago McKinn, a child kidnapped by Indians. Jon can show the photo of this child, who definitely did not resemble the other children in the picture with him.

The Mitchell Cabin was named after John Mitchell, who came to the area from Cornwall, England. He traded matched mules for his wife. Descendants of the Mitchells still live in the area.

"The reason we liked the area was this history and the natural beauty," Susie said. "We are on the old McGregor Claim. The cabins are on about 10 acres, but the whole site is about 150 acres. We bought the land from the descendant of the person who made the claim."

Jon said no one had compiled a history of Georgetown, but he and Susie have done a lot of research. Among their sources were locals who had ancestors connected to the site. "Bill Head was a big help," Jon said. "So were Ena Osborne, who ran the Red Store, and Dorothy Wolke, who wrote the history of the Georgetown Cemetery."

Another cabin is named after a district judge-Judge Lucas. "He had his own form of justice," Jon said.

A kiosk stands at the entrance to the cabins. If you stop and look, you will notice that, after weeks of picking up beer cans strewn along the roadway, the Eickhoffs named it the Trail of the Budweiser Spirits.

The Georgetown Cabins are open year round, although the owners do take a winter break.

Jon and Susie were in the engineering field in the new products business. "It was fast-paced," Susie said. "We retired out here. I was in a family of 10 kids. I was in charge of laundry, and my military dad taught us how to clean."

Each cabin is equipped with DVDs, Old West books, New Mexico history books and history about the area.

A 975-foot-deep water well provides water, which is pumped up to the tanks and gravity fed to the cabins.

"It took us four years to build the cabins," Susie said. "We used local guys."

Oh, don't forgewt the solar-heated soaking tub, with Dead Sea mineral salts.

Now you know you have to call to make a reservation, right?

Call 575-534-4529 or go to www.georgetowncabinsresort.com to make reservations. All you need is your food, drink and an overnight bag.